Message to pop up on another computer

[minette]

Hi all, I couldn't find the exact answer to my question, so I thought I'd post a new thread.

I have a spreadsheet, which needs to send a LAN-type alert to another computer when a value of over 100k is entered in a certain column. The alert/message/pop-up needs to have all the information from the current row in it. E.g. name, surname, company and amount. Also which user has just input the information. So the message to be displayed on the other computer might say something like: "Alice Woods, has just entered the amount of £100,000 for Mr. A Smith, from ABC Inc". It needs to be an immediate message, so cannot go via email, as it sometimes takes up to 5mins or so to be delivered - sometimes even longer.

Obviously needs to be done using VBA, but I don't have any idea where to start.

Any brave souls out there who might be able to help me, please?

Thanks so much for looking....
Minette

 

[RoryA]

Do your computers have the messenger service running? If so, you can probably use net send as long as you know the name of the target machine or user. Most IT departments I have come across disable that service though.

 

[minette]

Hi Rory - trust you to be the one to answer again. I think you're the quickest person on Mr Excel, and always extremely helpful.

No, they are not running any messenger services, only Skype, but if I cannot find another solution, I will see if it can be installed....

Minette

 

[RoryA]

The Messenger service is built into Windows - it's not a separate program. It's often disabled as spammers use it to pop up messages on your computer...

 

[minette]

OK, well, I'll see if I can get the company to enable it....

I take it there's no other way of doing it?

 

[RoryA]

Not that I know of, but I haven't had to do networking stuff for a while!

 

[minette]

Thanks Rory - so, do you know how net send works? How do I use it with VBA code?

 

[RoryA]

You'd basically have to shell a command prompt:

shell "cmd /c ""net send username_here message here""", vbMinimizedNoFocus

 

[minette]

OK, thanks Rory, I'll give it a go....

 

[0 Agios]

was this ever resolved ? can you send popup messages to other users using vba ?